What was Lincoln's objective when the civil war started?

Answer 1

Lincoln's paramount object in his struggle was to preserve the Union. He didn't want the South breaking away and forming its own country. He said in one of his speeches that if he could restore the union by freeing all the slaves, he would do it. If he could restore the Union by only freeing some slaves and not others, he would do it, and if he could do it without freeing any slaves, he would do it.

Answer 2

Lincoln didn't have the initial intention to completely eradicate slavery from America when he became President. All he wanted to do was to stop the spread of slavery into the USA territories, because he believed slavery was morally wrong. But he soon understood that a Civil War, though costly in lives, would join the nation together ultimately. He once said "I believe this nation cannot forever endure as half free and half slave."